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Saturday, October 24, 2009

AtHomeScience Yahoo Group

Finally, I have activated the Yahoo Group that I created back when I created this blog. I've added a button to the sidebar if you would like to join. Here is the description:

Everyone is welcome! This group has many Catholic members, including the moderator; as a result, please keep the following in mind:

Please no discussions about "young earth" or "Creationism" and please note if a resource has that perspective. I greatly appreciate families of faith with this perspective; however, information about these resources are available elsewhere, and discussions on this topic tend to get extensive and are without resolution.

Many wonderful secular resources will be discussed, and most of them have no reference to Christianity. Those that do will be discussed in light of their view on Christianity. On some occasions, discussions about Science and Catholicism will take place as well. Any anti-Catholic comments will no be posted.

May this list be a blessing to your own science homeschooling journey!

4 comments:

Of course Catholics believe in Creation. God is eternal, and He created everything from nothing. There was an Adam and an Eve with souls filled with His gift of grace. Because of their disobedience, sin and death entered the world, and we inherit Original Sin. None of this can ever be proven or rejected by science alone because they are supernatural occurrences, whereas science can only study nature. That is why we have faith.

While the New Testament is interpreted literally, the Old Testament is written in various literary forms and is not all meant to be interpreted literally, such as the 6 "days" of Creation and the 7th "day" of rest. Thus Catholics believe in Creation yet we are not Creationists nor teach Creationism.

We also know that God cannot contradict Himself, and so Nature is as much God's Truth as is the Bible. Science is the study of the physical world. Our human nature and our place in the universe have been designed precisely for us to explore it. We know from the Truth revealed by the earth’s structure that it is far older than 4,000 to 6,000 years.

Unfortunately, many scientists use their investigations to somehow disprove God. They have restricted their imaginations such that they blind themselves to the notion that all they learn only further demonstrates the glory of God and the humbleness of Man. They do not believe in the supernatural world because they restrict themselves to the natural one. This is the opposite side of the same coin of limiting God’s Truth to the Bible.

Scientists sometimes narrow their mind so much that they no longer carry out good science, but rather pursue personal agendas. This leads to Evolutionism, the advancement of the Theory of Evolution without any discussion or investigation of its scientific flaws. This can also be seen in the global warming debate, though that does not have anti-Christian undertones.

I know any Sola Scriptura Protestant would object to much of what I have written. I am not here to tell you that you are wrong; we could have a wonderful and rigorous theological discussion regarding the two points of view. What I do not want is that type of discussion happening on AtHomeScience, a blog and now a group designed to discuss books, tips, and resources for homeschooling science.

I am very glad to see the wealth of Creationist science material easily identified at Home Science Tools, Christian Book Distributors, Apologia, and others; I have some in my science library. You cannot get these resources from the public library because of censorship. These sources can certainly be posted to the group and should be identified as such both for those who are looking to use them and to avoid them.

Catholic science material is not as plentiful, though there’s a wealth of wonderful secular material to be found. Some of that secular material, however, contains anti-Christian and often specifically anti-Catholic content. Secular members of the group can get a lot of ideas and resources, but they must understand that faith-related discussions will take place as well. Any note of content related to Christianity, without any need to interpret it as “acceptable” or “unacceptable,” is much appreciated.

I hope, Jimmie, this has helped you to understand a Catholic perspective of science and Creation—something that is often misunderstood by those who are not.

You did not ruffle me--I know you meant your question sincerely and I felt you deserved more than just a brief response. I am sure many others who read this blog, both Protestant and Secular whom I love dearly, had similar questions.

You are always an inspiration to me, Jimmie! And don't feel like you have to change any way in which you express or ask anything.

Visitors

On Science, Learning, and Faith

"Books dealing with science as with history, say, should be of a literary character, and we should probably be more scientific as a people if we scrapped all the text-books which swell publishers' lists and nearly all the chalk expended so freely on our blackboards."Charlotte MasonA Philosophy of Education

"Some teachers may give a live lesson from a stuffed specimen, and other teachers may stuff their pupils with facts about a live specimen; of the two, the former is preferable."Anna Botsford ComstockHandbook of Nature Study

“Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.”

Pope John Paul II

"Beautiful is what we see.More beautiful is what we understand.Most beautiful is what we do not comprehend."Bl. Nicolas StenoFounder of modern geology

"Go my Sons, burn your books and buy stout shoes, climb the mountains, search the valleys, the deserts, the sea shores, and the deep recesses of the earth...Observe and experiment without ceasing, for in this way and no other will you arrive at a knowledge of the true nature of things." Petrus Severinus16th century Danish alchemist

"All this propaganda for literacy of one sort or another comes from people who believe that everyone should share their particular views of what the most important knowledge is and what conclusions should be drawn from it; in other words, they want others to be indoctrinated."Henry H. BauerScientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method

"Furthermore, and contrary to popular belief, the Church never supported the idea that the earth is flat, never banned human dissection, never banned the zero, and certainly never burnt anyone at the stake for scientific ideas."James HannamThe Genesis of Science